As soon as U.S. District Judge Maryellen raised the issue of immunity, the agreement started to implode.
’s attorneys entered a courtroom late last month hoping a judge would approve the plea deal they’d struck, even though they had already publicly disagreed about a key element: what immunity it offered the former president’s son from potential additional criminal charges.
The public unraveling reflected tensions that have always hung over the Biden investigation - a case Republicans have used to attack President Biden's integrity and invoked when Democrats talk about the criminal investigations of former president Donald Trump, the leading contender for the GOP nomination to challenge Joe Biden in 2024.
Spokespeople for the Justice Department and the FBI declined to comment. A spokesperson for Biden's legal team also declined to comment. That broader probe includes examining whether Biden violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe a sensitive investigation. The act requires that lobbyists and others who work on behalf of foreign entities or governments register with the U.S. government.
"Hunter Biden's sweetheart plea deal and the Justice Department's efforts to obstruct justice only embolden our efforts to follow the facts and deliver answers, transparency, and accountability to the American people," Rep. James Comer , chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said in a news release on June 22 that accompanied the whistleblower testimony.
Biden had agreed to sign a proposed diversion agreement in which he would admit to having illegally possessed a gun, but would not plead guilty to that crime - which was a felony, and therefore more serious than the two misdemeanor charges of failing to pay taxes. Such diversion agreements are typically applied to nonviolent offenders with substance abuse problems and do not require a judge's approval.
Prosecutors wanted to take the immunity provision out of the diversion agreement, according to people familiar with the deliberations. Biden's team called that change a dealbreaker. "Mr. Weiss advised me that in his judgment, his investigation has reached a stage at which he should continue his work as a special counsel," Garland said in a statement. Given the"extraordinary circumstances" of the case, the attorney general said,"I have concluded it is in the public interest."Biden's attorneys argued Monday that even though they are at a stalemate with the plea deal, the diversion agreement should stand.
The failed plea deal and special counsel appointment has only fueled partisan finger-pointing and questions about how the Justice Department handles politically sensitive cases.
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